How to Make Your Own DIY MACH & MACH Bow Heels For Only $30

Tools and materials:

• Heels that have a removable ankle strap
• Crystal trim
• Regular scissors
• Tiny scissors
• Pliers
• E6000 glue
• Glue gun
• Peg
• Needle and clear thread

These are the famous MACH & MACH bow heels, which are so on-trend right now, but they retail at around $2,000! I'll show you how to make your own for a fraction of the cost.

1. Thread the trim through

Remove the straps from your heels and pull the crystal trim through. 

Make sure your crystal trim is the correct thickness so that it goes through the ankle strap.

The trim might have a stopper on it that's too big to go through the ankle.

So you’re going to cut off the stopper but make sure to leave yourself about a half-inch so that you have something to grip onto when you remove the stopper later. 

2. Put the stopper back on

Now, you want to put the stopper back on, so pull it off with pliers. Then apply some E6000 to either end of the trip and slowly slide it back inside the stopper.

Twirl it around so that the glue settles, and then it’s good to go.

You also have the option to use magnetic stoppers instead. If you are going to go for this option though, make sure that the ankle straps are not too tight or they will pop open.

3. Create the bows

To create the double bows, cut two pieces of trim and loop them into the center to create the shape of the letter B, glue them and hold them just like that until the glue dries.

Then, make another piece of this shape and put them back to back. Proceed to wrap around some crystal trim to hold together the center of the bow.

When I wrap the trim around it, it smushes them together in the middle but keeps the loops of the bow large.

You can use the same type of crystal trim as the bows or add in a bit of sparkle by going for a different design.

4. Attach the bows to the shoes

To put the bow onto the shoes, I tried using hot glue and E6000, but neither was strong enough to hold the bow, so I ended up using clear thread and a needle.

You want to use the needle to go through it and then loop and loop. You’re not even stitching it; you’re just tacking it down by looping it around on either side of the crystal trim in the center.

Then, just knot it off in the back and cut the thread.

5. Make the design at the front

To make the rope that goes around the front of the shoe, cut the trim almost in half. This will make it look like it’s the full rope, but the back side will be flat, which means it’s going to lay much better and hold better. 

Put tiny scissors into the trim and basically just cut it straight open all along one side.

Once you go up all the way to the top, you’re going to move your scissors over by about four little crystals, and you’re going to be cutting again. Now you have a flat-backed crystal trim.

Grab your E6000 and lay it really, really tight against the edge of the shoe on both the sole and the leather part.

You want to make sure that everything is laying really close to that edge and you need to hold it for quite a while to make sure that it actually dries. 

If you do want to use a clothes peg, make sure you’re using it in that little curve, otherwise the tension of the peg will distort the shape of the trim.

Here are the finished MACH & MACH bow heels. Aren’t they so bling?

Here they are in a red design. Both versions look gorgeous and I know I’m going to get a lot of wear out of them.

DIY MACH & MACH bow heels tutorial

The great thing about this DIY is that you can create these designs on any shoe that you want. If you’re not a high-heel person you can do this design on a pair of sandals, slides, or sneakers instead.